D9020 Nimbus

I can't help wondering if Bachmann's concentration on diesels in OO is wise. Check out Rails of Sheffield's list of bargains (across all manufacturers): 9 steam locos, over 100 diesels. There are, however, a number of recent N gauge steam locos in the bargain bins — notably the EFE J94 where all but the BR versions are half price (the BR versions are 20% off). Similar prices are on offer at other retailers. Many more than a year ago, it seems.

I don't think you need to be worried as to whether the track plan represents typical LNWR practice — BLTs were usually unique designs, although through stations were often of standard designs. The Midland termini at Stroud and Nailsworth were totally unlike each other, for example. Other LNWR termini you might look at are Banbury Merton Street (a larger example), Croxley Green and Stanmore. All of these plus Newport Pagnell were covered in past issues of Backtrack — though I'm not sure which ones.

The so-called "Whisky Blues" were popular models back in the 1960s in both the Triang and Trix ranges; IIRC Triang first used the Trix models under licence and later created their own. The Trix models may have been to 3.8mm scale, but were generally the better looking models. Since the Trix models were made by Liliput, the tooling ended up with Bachmann and had a run-out about 20 years ago. The Peco N gauge models were round about late 1960s vintage too. It's surprising in some ways that there are no newer models in either OO or N.

Old "Poole" Farish did an 8F, but I'm not sure what the wheel size is. However locos of this era were often rather crude and didn't always run well. A particular low point was the tiny pony truck wheels on some models, although I can't say whether the 8F was one of these. There is a "new" 8F, too — quite a recent model, and quite expensive — especially if you are only interested in the chassis.

Traction tyres? The railbuses might not have them.

Err… Hornby are already working on the TT:120 Pannier, and the recent OO B-set is Rapido Trains U.K.…

If Accurascale are planning to try TT:120 (and the figure set doesn't really prove anything), then I could see them starting with wagons — Hornby are always more passenger-focussed, or have been in recent times (Triang always had a good range of wagons, and the "Freightmaster" set was very popular). They have the design work for a 16 ton mineral wagon, which doesn't seem to feature in Hornby's plans, although Peco could upscale their new N gauge model. Peco do appear to have lost some of their enthusiasm for TT:120. There have been no wagon announcements since the 7-plank wagon, while 16 t minerals, iron ore tipplers, and BR ventilated vans have been or are being introduced in N — where Farish have models of similar types. At the present time, none of these have been announced in TT120.

I am surprised if Murphy Models items are appearing in this way. Weren't they all made by Bachmann/Kader?

I suspect it is the power supply rather than the controller or amplifier. Apart from the colour of the controller, my setup — obtained as part of an N gauge starter set — is the same as yours except for the power supply, which is a standard Roco-branded one.

I think it has effectively been confirmed insofar as the product numbers and the guises to be produced have been given — more than say the 57xx or J94. Obviously we don't know when, but these days we only know when if the ship carrying the models is in port… Hornby had an existing CAD to use as a basis, and they can move quickly to squash competition — see Terrier. It would have been folly to continue. There seemed to be co-ordination between Peco, Heljan and Gaugemaster; I wonder if Peco had concluded that Hornby were never going to introduce TT120, and had turned to Heljan to produce locos much as happened with the L&B range in 009.

Pre-nationalisation, not pre-grouping, I think — pre-grouping carriages had largely gone before the end of steam. In the Scottish Highlands, Thompson non-corridor coaches were used on many branches. Even on a light railway like Dornoch, LMS era non corridor coaches of the type modelled by Hornby and even Stanier corridor coaches appeared. In the West Country the B-sets were generally post grouping, and several branches used Hawksworth auto trailers. Welsh branch lines often used Collett and Hawksworth stock. In the early 1950s there was still pre-grouping stock in existence.

Ivatt 2MT tanks were push-pull fitted (or at least some were), presumably a different mechanism to that used by the Maunsell sets?

Farish announced a new chassis for the existing Poole-era body, but when Dapol announced an all new 57xx dropped that idea. Perhaps if Dapol hadn't done the 57xx Farish might not have done the 64xx at all. We'll never know (though they do both in OO). The 57xx/8750 is by far the most common, and Dapol have produced many batches of them, never ending up in the bargain bins.

They hauled mixed trains to Hayling Island and operated and shunted the Newhaven West Quay branch. I suspect the only reason the J50 was preferred was because it would be very difficult to fit a Bluetooth decoder in a "Terrier". J50s may well have been vacuum fitted but only for station pilot and ECS work. I've never seen a photo of one on a passenger train.

The choice of the J50 makes some sense when you think about it. There was demand for an 0-6-0T and this was the only one that could be produced quickly — the only other 0-6-0T they would have a CAD for would be the "Terrier", but fitting a Bluetooth decoder in one would be challenging to say the least. The class 37 seems to be being prioritised over the class 31, for which they will have an 00 CAD as a starting point. It was easier building a range in earlier times, when the aim was to have a loco capable of covering every type of duty — but when the HD "0-6-2T" was expected to cover all of the big 4 (it was never officially an N2). Triang certainly did have LMS leanings with the "Princess Elizabeth", Jinty and its tender engine equivalent — although the only "big" locos in their TT range were the "Merchant Navy" and "Castle". The first ex-LNER loco they did was the B12 in OO. Only Airfix had the goal of providing a balanced range — 14xx and auto-trailer, large Prairie and B-set, Castle and "Centenary" stock — bit of pro-GW bias there, although other railways were being worked on (some models of which were planned but never made, such as the ex -LSWR O2 and G6).